


The Rise of Rey

by ASleightOfHand



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Eventual Finn/Rey, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Finn's past, Force dreams, Post-TLJ, Probable title change later, force connection
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 21:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15495264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ASleightOfHand/pseuds/ASleightOfHand
Summary: “What happened on Snoke’s ship?” Leia asked her.**Picking up immediately after the battle on Crait, Rey has become one of the last hopes of the Resistance. She isn't sure how to rebuild from what they have.  She tries to work toward her future as a fully realized Jedi while putting hopes of having a mentor in her past. As she accepts that her only family is the new one she's found, her relationships with friends and allies grow even stronger.





	The Rise of Rey

**Author's Note:**

> I already have several chapters written of this so my hope is to keep updating without leaving this unfinished forever.  
> I don't read the comics so this fic will rely only on what we know from the movies.

Just like that, the adrenaline of battle left Rey’s veins and she was left clutching on to a broken lightsaber, tired and a little bit afraid.

Leia had hope still. But she hadn’t seen how close her son had been to returning to the light. How quickly he retreated from it. 

“What happened on Snoke’s ship?” Leia asked her. 

Rey could feel the hush settling around the room as the few dozen people who had been pretending not to eavesdrop gave up the charade. She stood, swallowed back a lump of uncertainty in her throat.

“Kylo Ren killed Snoke.” The harsh name of the man she’d been so afraid of days, weeks ago, depending on whose sun you were going off of. The difference between the man who had stolen her from the forest, assaulted her mind, and the one she had told her fears to, as if he were a friend, a confidant. 

A gasp rippled through the crowd. Out of the corner of her eye, Rey saw Finn stand from his post with Rose. He was staring at her with the same sort of awe as when she moved the rocks and saved them.

Leia touched her hand. “Go on.”

“Why were you there?” Poe asked, sending a jolt to Rey’s heart.

“I thought that Luke was...he didn’t want to help. I found out something that made me think Ren would turn...I felt it through the Force.” Rey saw someone shaking their head, another rolling their eyes. The naive desert girl. They’d been fighting against this for ages and she’d thought some kind words could turn someone from evil.

“Snoke wanted him to kill me but instead, Ren killed Snoke. We fought together. I asked him to save the fleet but...he just wanted more power. He wanted me to join him.”

“How did you escape?” Finn said. His brow was furrowed in worry.

“We fought over the lightsaber. Again. It split in half, and I came to before he did. The ship was a wreck, I barely made it out.”

“Holdo.” Poe said, nodding grimly. He sniffed and averted his gaze.

“So what does this mean?” a man Rey didn’t recognize said. 

“It’s not unheard of for a sith to kill his master, it’s expected,” said another.  
Rey shook her head. How could she make them understand? “In that moment I don’t think he was looking for more power. I saw the hatred in his face for Snoke. He saved me. On purpose. He wanted Snoke dead. He wasn’t planning.”

“But now he’s the Supreme Leader and he’s going to throw his temper tantrums all across the galaxy.” Finn said, a far-away look in his eyes.

“Hux will still be pulling the strings,” Poe said, “Ren has the power but he’s not the military mind behind the First Order.”

Leia got to her feet. “All things we can discuss once we’ve gotten to our new base. For now, everyone needs to rest up. Treat our wounded. This was not a loss today. We will mourn our friends, our family, and we’ll keep fighting for them. And for Luke.”

The clamor of the group getting back to patching up wounds, hugging one another, and settling in returned. Leia turned to Rey.

“Come with me,” she said, gesturing to the quarters Rey knew to have been Han’s, “I want to know everything.”

**

By the time Rey had told Leia the whole story and was wandering off down the hallway, she was more exhausted than she’d ever been. All she wanted was to lie down and sleep but she wasn’t quite sure where. Most of the cots and bunks were taken up by the wounded and the common area was still buzzing with nervous chatter. She turned away and headed down to the gunner cockpit. 

Silence enveloped her when she stepped inside. She curled up in the chair, made sure the safety was on the blasters, and stared out at the sky. They had left hyperspace for a while, to conserve fuel, and were on their way to a new system, far away from the First Order’s reaches. She only hoped their new base wouldn’t be in a desert. Despite her cramped position, exhaustion finally took over and she succumbed to sleep. 

Someone was crying. Rey peered down the hall, shinier than she remembered it, cleaner but cluttered with mechanical bits and bobs. She wandered farther into the Falcon. A small, dark-haired boy was huddled in a corner, his arms wrapped around his legs which were pulled tightly to his chest.

“Are you hurt?” Rey said, her voice soft, unsure. How did she get here again?

The boy looked up and she reeled back. There was a scar stretching down his face and his dark eyes were rimmed with red.  
“I don’t want to do it,” the boy said, his voice catching on a sob.

Rey kneeled in front of him. “What don’t you want to do?”

He shook his head and buried his face back in his knees. “Don’t make me kill you,” his voice was muffled.

“Ben,” Rey said. His head snapped up. He searched her face.

“Who are you?” He said, his expression clouding over, eyes narrowed. She could see the shadow of the anger in his older self. “Leave me alone. Get out of my head. Everyone get out of my head!”

He continued shouting, his hands over his ears.

“Ben?” A scared shout came from down the hall. Rey felt like her knees were glued to the floor. Han Solo stood before her, looking right through her, to his son. He crouched down in front of him and pulled the hysterical boy’s hands away from his head.

“It’s okay,” Han said, pulling Ben into his arms. The boy struggled at first, but he’d stopped shouting. 

“Make it stop,” Ben cried into Han’s shoulder, his little hands scrunched up in the fabric of Han’s jacket. “Is she helping him?”

“Who?” Han asked, grief and confusion twisting his face.

“The girl.”

Han pulled away. “What girl?”

Ben’s face turned to her and he raised a small finger to point. Han turned as well, looking right through her. Rey scrambled up to her feet, her heart pounding. 

She ran down the hall as she heard Han say, “there’s no one there, Ben.” 

The walls collapsed in on her, the floor shifted below her feet. Everything went dark and she gasped for air, clawed for purchase but found herself falling. Then she was standing in a darkened room, a red glow surrounding her. Almost womb-like, if it didn’t feel so sinister. 

The hair on the back of her neck prickled. She whirled around to seen him standing there. Kylo Ren. Ben Solo. Just as he was on Crait when she’d slammed the door of their connection on him.  
“I don’t need anyone else in my head,” he snarled. He took a step forward and she went for the blaster at her hip, only to find it wasn’t there.

“REY.” someone shouted. She was sinking through the floor, the walls were shimmering around her.

And then she was being shaken awake, still curled up in the gunner cockpit. She gasped and clutched at the hands shaking her. Her cheeks were wet and her throat felt raw, as if she’d been yelling.

She looked up to find Finn, wide-eyed and terrified.

“Finn,” she gasped, slumping on the seat.

“It sounded like you were in trouble.” He said.

She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him into an awkward hug from her seated position. He was safe and warm.

“He’s still in my head,” she said into Finn’s shoulder, “I thought I cast him out.”

“Who’s in your head?” Finn asked. He pulled away from the hug and put his hand on her cheek, looking her right in the eyes.

Rey launched into an explanation of the Force connection for the second time that day. She realized that she hadn't truly spoken to Finn since Starkiller Base. It felt like an eternity ago.

When she finished, both of them sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall, Finn took a deep breath.

“Do you think it started when he did the mind trick thing like he did on Poe?” He asked.

“Maybe,” Rey said. “Snoke claimed it was him that did it, but then why would it still be working now?”

“He might have just sensed it, exploited it for himself. I mean, he was a bad guy. That’s what they do.”

“Did you ever see him? When you were a stormtrooper?” Rey asked.

Finn frowned. “I walked in on the tail end of a holo once. I could only tell that he was terrifying. Hux and Ren both seemed scared of him.”

Rey nodded and took a deep breath. 

Her eyes were drooping shut of their own accord. The nightmare-fueled sleep had done her no good. “Snoke was in Ben’s head from the time he was a boy. It’s what helped turn him. Han and Leia were scared of it.”

“Ben.” Finn shook his head at the name. “I can’t imagine him being called Ben as he ordered that whole village to be slaughtered. How do you know what Snoke was doing?”

“I saw it, in my dream just now,” Rey said. “He can’t have been more than ten. Han looked terrified.”

“You saw Solo?” Finn squeezed Rey’s hand. They’d only known the man for such a short time but it was clear what he’d meant to them both. Rey nodded and swallowed back the urge to cry again. She was so sick of crying. She was sick of fighting too.

“Don’t forget why we don’t still have him. Why Leia doesn’t.” Finn scowled.

“I don’t, Finn. I hated Kylo Ren, I did. But Ben Solo is a different person. I truly thought he could be saved. Can you imagine having a voice in your head your whole life, telling you to kill and hurt? To give in to anger?”

Finn let go of her hand and looked at her in disbelief. 

“Rey, I was a stormtrooper. They raised me that way. My sole purpose was to grow up and kill as part of their army. But I didn’t.” Finn stood up. “I made that choice. Kylo Ren made his. Maybe it’s time you accepted that.”

He was clenching his fists. Rey’s heart did a flip. How could she have been so stupid? Of course Finn was upset.

“Finn, I’m sorry,” she said, standing as well. “I...should have thought.”

Finn nodded, more to himself than to her. “I have to go check on Rose. You should try to get more sleep.” 

He left her standing there, more confused and alone than she’d felt before.


End file.
